The Government is expected to announce the closure of a quarter of the Land Registry's national offices, job losses of up to 1,500, and a possible sale of the department to the private sector.
The Land Registry had been earmarked for a sale as part of the Government's £16bn asset sell-off. It is hoped that a total of £3bn will be raised from the sale of state-owned companies.
The Registry has 20 offices across Britain, and records all land ownership transactions.
Losses of £130m were recorded last year at the Registry. The downturn in the housing market is thought to be a main reason for this. In January, 627 houses a day were registered in England and Wales, compared with 2,526 a day in the same month in 2008. This has led to a steep fall in income from registration fees, falling from £482,944 in 2007/8 to £308,050 in 2008/9.
Plans were made to close offices in York and Harrow, and merge offices in Birkenhead, Lytham, Nottingham, Durham and Swansea, while 1,000 employees have taken voluntary redundancy. The anticipated 1,500 job cuts are to affect staff at all levels.
Peter Collins, chief executive and chief land registrar said in the latest business plan: "The year to March 31, 2009, was a challenging year. The credit crunch and the resulting impact on the property and mortgage markets hit Land Registry hard, and we cannot assume that our trading position will improve rapidly."
